Spread of COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh during Lock-Down phase-1
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© 2021 JETIR February 2021, Volume 8, Issue 2 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
Spread of COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh during
Lock-Down phase-1
G.Rambabu 1 & A.Krishna Kumari 2
1. UGC PDF in Geography, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur.
2. Professor of Geography, Sri Krishnadevaraya University, Anantapur.
Abstract: Corona virus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by newly discovered corona virus. Corona viruses
belong to the genus corona virus in the corona viridae. All COVs are pleomorphic RNA viruses characteristically containing
crown-shape peplomers with 80-160 nano meters in size and 27-32 kb positive polarity. Recombination rates of COVs are very
high because of constantly developing transcription errors and RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp} jumps. With its high
mutation rate, corona viruses are zoonotic pathogens that are present in humans and various animals with a wide range of clinical
features from asymptometic course to requirement of hospitalization in the intensive care unit, causing infections in respiratory,
gastro-intestional, hepatic and neurologic systems. They were not considered as highly pathogenic for humans until they have
been seen with the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in the Guangdong state of China for the first time in 2002 and
2003. Approximately ten years after SARS, another highly pathogenic COV, middle East Respiratory syndrome corona virus
(MERS-COV) has emerged in the middle East countries. In December 2019, 2019 novel Corona virus (nCOV), which is another
public health problem, has emerged in the Huanan seafood market, where livestock animals are also traded, in Wuhan state of
Hubei province in China and has been the focus of global attention due to a pneumonia epidemic of unknown cause. At first, an
unknown pneumonia case was detected on December 12, 2019. Since then it has been spreading throughout the world registering
about 33,844,926 ( as on 30th sept, 2020) in 213 countries with 1,012,677 deaths and 21,149,241 recovered cases. Maximum
number of cases is being registered in USA (7,406,729), India (6,225,763), Brazil (4,780,317), Russia (1,167,805) and so on.
The first case in India has been registered on 30th January, 2020 in Thrissur of Kerala. And now (as on 30th sept, 2020) there are
about 6,225,763 total cases with 97,529 total deaths in a span of 9 months. About 5,187,825 cases have been recovered so far
and there are 940,409 active cases at present in the country. Among these, serious and critical cases have been identified as 8944.
Total corona cases per 1 million population is reported as 4501 and deaths at 71 per 1 million population. So for 74,196,729 total
tests have been completed of the total population of 1,383,345,173 in the country. On an average 53636 tests per 1 million
population have been carried out. In this context, an attempt is made here to study the spread of COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh
state during lock-down phase-1.
Key words : COVID-19, Spread, Initial cases, Death Toll, Andhra Pradesh.
Introduction :
A novel Corona virus (CoV) named as COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO) is responsible for the
current out break of Pneumonia. Most of the people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate
respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people and those with underlying medical problems
like cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness. The
COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or
sneezes. So it is important to practice respiratory etiquette for example by coughing into a flexed elbow. The droplets are too
heavy to hang in the air and quickly fall on floor or surface. One can also be infected by breathing in the virus, if you are within
close proximity of someone who has COVID-19, or by touching a contaminated surface and then your eyes, nose or mouth.
There are no specific vaccines or medicines for COVID-19 at this time. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials
evaluating potential treatments. WHO will continue to provide updated information as soon as clinical finding become available.
People who are hospitalized with severe COVID-19 symptoms are getting an antiviral medicine called Remdesivir. Research
shows that some patients recover faster after taking it. Favipiravir is another drug used in COVID-19 treatment. Recognizing the
wide spread of this viral disease and existing adverse situation an endeavour is made here to study the initial and the subsequent
spread or increase of the COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh during lockdown phase-1.
Objectives:
to study the initial cases, subsequent spread and mortality of COVID-19 in the Andhra Pradesh state during 21 days of
lockdown phase-1 (25/03/2020 to 14/04/2020).
JETIR2102257 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 2110© 2021 JETIR February 2021, Volume 8, Issue 2 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
Data & Methodology:
The study is entirely based on secondary data obtained from News papers such as Eenadu Telugu, Sakshi, The Hindu
etc and Google search engine. Data pertaining to COVID-19 positive cases and deaths occurred due it has been collected for
Andhra Pradesh state during the lockdown phase-1 (consisting of 21 days) on daily basis. Simple statistical techniques like
additions, averages, percentages are used to analyse the data. The tabulated data is represented with the help of simple graphs,
such as bar diagrams using SPSS package.
Study Area:
Andhra Pradesh is a state in the south eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh largest state covering an area of
about 162,975Km2 with a population of 49,386,799 inhabitants. The state of Andhra Pradesh is divided into 13 districts spread
across coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema. It is lying between 12 041I – 19.070 North latitude and 770 - 84040I East longitude and is
bordered by Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Orissa in the north, the Bay of Bengal in the East, Tamil Nadu to the south and
Karnataka to the west. It has the longest coastline with 975km next to Gujarat.
Results and Discussions:
Initial 10 cases of COVID-19:
Before the first lockdown period or during the lockdown period COVID-19 cases are hardly found in Andhra Pradesh
state. The very first case of COVID-19 pandemic in Andhra Pradesh was reported in Nellore district on 12th March, 2020. A 24
year old student, who is pursuing his post-graduation in Italy returned to his home town Nellore and confirmed positive for
COVID-19. The patient was admitted to the Isolation ward of the government general hospital late on March 9th night with
corona symptoms. Initially, the mouth swabs were sent to the SVIMS, Tirupati for testing and later to the National Institute of
Virology, Pune for conformation. The health officials sanitized the Chinna Bazar area of Nellore city from where the youth
hailed. He was discharged on 23rd March, 2020 after 14 days stay in the hospital.
The second COVID-19 case in Andhra Pradesh was reported on 19 th March, 2020 in Prakasam district. A 23 year old
youngster who was returned from London to Delhi on 10 th March, 2020, and reached Hyderabad on 11th March. He travelled to
Ongole, his home town on march 14th night in APSRTC bus and reached the destination on March 15th. He was tested positive
for corona virus on 19th March and he had been kept in the isolation ward at RIMS hospital in Ongole town for further treatment
and recovered later.
The third COVID-19 patient was a 65 year old person from Visakapatnam and tested positive for COVID-19 on 20th
March. He had travel history of Mecca trip, from where he got affected to the virus. The fourth case has been reported in
Vijayawada. A post-graduate student from Paris reached Delhi on 15 th March, 2020 and on 17th he travelled to Hyderabad and
from there he went to his home town Vijayawada by car. He was joined in hospital on 20 th March, 2020, and tested positive for
the corona virus on 21 March.
The fifth COVID-19 patient is also a post-graduate student studying in London, who reached Hyderabad on 18 th March,
2020 and from there went to his home town Rajamundry. He was admitted in the hospital on 20 th March due to fever and tested
positive on 21st March. The sixth COVID-19 patient from Visakapatnam contaminated by the virus through her father, a 65 year
old patient ( reported as 3rd patient in Andhra Pradesh) who came from Mecca. The affected patient is a 49 years old lady in the
same family who moved with her father intimately. She joined in the hospital on 20th march and tested positive for corona virus
on 22nd March, 2020.
The seventh case, again a post-graduate student of Vizag who is studying in England came from Burmingham to Delhi
th
on 17 March, 2020 and reached Visakapatnam on the same day at 5:00 pm. After thermal scanning at airport he was advised to
confine himself in home quarantine. On 19th March, he was detected with CIVID-19 symptoms and joined in a private hospital
at Vizag on 21st and then to Government hospital on 23rd March. He was tested positive for the corona virus and reported as 7 th
patient in Andhra Pradesh.
JETIR2102257 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 2111© 2021 JETIR February 2021, Volume 8, Issue 2 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
A 25 year old student of Srikalahasti of Chittoor district studying MCA in London reached Chennai on 19 th March and
travelled to his home town by car. With cough, cold and fever he was admitted in Ruia hospital, Tirupathi on 23 rd and tested
positive for COVID-19 on 24th March. It is the 8th corona case in Andhra Pradesh state. The ninth case has been reported in
Vijayawada on 25th March, 2020. A student from Washington, USA reached Delhi on 20th and after screening he was admitted to
a hospital in New Delhi. He was discharged a day later and took Air India flight (AI459) on 21st to Visakapatnam and reached
home in his friend’s car. He was admitted in the GG hospital on 23rd due to mild symptoms and later tested positive for the virus.
The 10th case of corona virus registered in Guntur. A 52 year old man from Guntur attended Tablighi Jamaat religious
meeting at Nizamuddin Markaz, Delhi. He spent two and half days with about 20 persons there from March 14. He later
travelled to Vijayawada by Duronto express in coach 58 and then reached home in Guntur by a cab. The patient visited a private
hospital two days later after developing symptoms and then went to Vijayawada along with his son on a motorcycle and got
admitted to the fever hospital on March 23rd and tested positive on 25th March. He is the first person in the state to have
contacted the virus through community transfer without a history of the travel abroad and close contact with a positive case
person.
Among the initial ten cases of Andhra Pradesh, 8 cases have the travel history of foreign countries, one case has close
contact with a positive case person within their own family and the another case contacted the virus through community transfer
by attending a religious meeting in Delhi. If we look in to the gender of the initial Corona positive cases of Andhra Pradesh,
except the sixth positive case, all the other nine cases are males only. Fortunately there is no mortality in all these cases of the
state. About 70 percent of these cases are below the age of 25 years, 2 persons between 25-60 years and only one positive person
was above 60 years (Table -1).
Table-1
Initial Ten cases of COVID-19 in Andhra Pradesh
S.N Place (where Age of the Gender Any travel history Secondary Date of
o case reported) patient contact detection
1 Nellore 24 years Male Returned from Italy _ 12th March,
2020
2 Ongole 23 years Male Returned from London _ 19th March,
2020
3 Visakapatnam 65 years Male Returned from Mecca _ 20th March,
2020
4 Vijayawada 24 years Male Returned from Paris _ 21st March,
2020
5 Rajamundry 23 years Male Returned from London _ 21st March
2020
6 Visakapatnam 49 years Female Contaminated 22nd March,
through her 2020
_ father who
returned from
Mecca
7 Visakapatnam 24 years Male Retuned from England - 23rd March,
2020
8 Tirupati 25 years Male Returned from London _ 24th March,
2020
9 Vijayawada 22 years Male Returned from USA _ 25th March,
2020
10 Guntur 52 years Male Attended Tablighi Jamaat 25th March,
religious congregation, _ 2020
Nizamuddin Markaz
Mosque, Delhi
Source: Internet & Eenadu Telugu Daily.
JETIR2102257 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 2112© 2021 JETIR February 2021, Volume 8, Issue 2 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
Spread of COVID-19 during Lock-down phase-1:
On 24th march, 2020 the government of India ordered a national wide lock down for 21 days, limiting movement of the
entire population, as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. The lockdown was announced when
the number of conformed positive corona virus cases was approximately 500. Observers stated that the lockdown had slowed the
growth rate of the pandemic.
The total number of cases reported in Andhra Pradesh during lockdown phase-1 i.e from 25/03/2020 to 14/04/2020 are
478. With the inclusion of earlier cases the total number of Corona virus cases reached to 486 by 14th April 2020. The state
occupied 7th place in the incidence of COVID-19 cases of the country after Maharastra (2337), Delhi (1510), Tamil Nadu (1204),
Rajasthan (879), Madya Pradesh (730) and Telangana( 644), at the end of the lockdown phase-1. In the percentage, the state has
4.49% of cases to the total cases of India (10815) by the end of lockdown phase-1.
In Andhra Pradesh, the highest number of cases by the end of the lockdown phase-1 have been reported in Guntur (114)
followed by Kurnool (93) and Nellore (55) districts (Table -2). The least number of cases are found in Visakapatnam district
with 17 cases. More significantly, Srikakulam and Viziaya Nagaram districts have been remained as COVID-19 free districts
with ‘zero’ cases till the end of the lockdown phase-1. The day wise incidence of corona cases during the lockdown phase-1
shows that, maximum number of cases have been noticed on 5 th April, 2020 with 68 cases followed by 67 cases on 1 st April and
45 cases on 6th April (Table-2). The growth is highly fluctuating with significant ups and downs (Fig.1). The average number of
COVID-19 cases registered during the lockdown phase-1, are estimated as 23 per day in the state against 490 cases of the
country’s average.
Table -2
Daily reported Corona cases in Andhra Pradesh during Lockdown phase-1
Date Anan Chitt East Gun Kad Kris Kur Nel Prakas Srik Vijay Visaka West TOTAL
tapur oor God tur apa hna nool lor ham akul a patnam Godav cases in
avar h e am nagar ari Andhra
i am Pradesh
25/03/ - - - 1 - 1 - - - - - - - 2
2020
26/03/ - - - - - 1 - - - - - - - 1
2020
27/03/ - - - 1 - - - - - - - 1 - 2
2020
28/03/ - - - 2 - 1 1 - 2 - - - - 6
2020
29/03/ - - - - - - - - - - - 2- - 2
2020
30/03/ - - 2- - - - - - - - - - - 2
2020
31/03/ 2 1 1 5 - - - - 8 - - 4 - 21
2020
01/4/2 - 4 5 11 15 11 - 2 4 - - 1 14 67
020
2/4/20 - 3 - - 3 8 - 21 2 - - - 1 38
20
3/4/20 - - 2 - 1 - - 8 - - - 4 - 15
20
4/4/20 1 1 - 10 4 5 3 - 2 - - - - 26
20
5/4/20 3 7 - - - - 52 2 4 - - - - 68
JETIR2102257 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 2113© 2021 JETIR February 2021, Volume 8, Issue 2 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
20
6/4/20 - - - 2 4 1 18 8 1 - - 5 6 45
20
7/4/20 - - - 9 1 - - 1 - - - - - 11
20
8/4/20 7 3 - 8 - 6 1 5 3 - - 0 1 34
20
9/4/20 - - 1 2 1 - - - 11 - - - - 15
20
10/4/2 2 - 5 7 - - 2 - 2 - - - - 18
020
11/4/2 - - - 17 1 - 5 - 1 - - - - 24
020
12/4/2 - 1 - 14 1 - 2 4 - - - - - 22
020
13/4/2 - 2 - 4 - 1 - 4 - - - - 1 12
020
14/4/2 6 - - 21 2 8 9 - 1 - - - - 47
020
TOTA 21 22 16 114 33 43 93 55 41 0 0 17 23 478
L
Source: Eenadu Telugu Daily & Sakshi Daily News papers.
Fig. 1
Daily reported Corona cases in Andhra Pradesh during
Lockdown Phase - 1
67 68
70
60
47
50 45
38
40 34
30 26
24
21 22
18
20 15 15
11 12
10 6
2 1 2 2 2
0
DAILY CORONA CASES LOCKDOWN PHASE - I AVERAGE
The death toll due to the corona virus in Andhra Pradesh during lockdown phase-1 has been noticed as 9 in total. These
deaths have been occurred in only five districts of the state(Table-3). The first COVID-19 death has been occurred in
Vijayawada on 2nd April, the second death reported in Anantapur on 4 th April and the third death again in Vijayawada on 4th
April night. Among the total 9 deaths took place during the lockdown phase-1, three deaths occur in Krishna district, two deaths
each in Guntur and Anantapur districts and one each in Nellore and Kurnool districts. Except one death all the fatality cases are
males only with above 50 years of age. Compared to the total deaths of the country (353), the state has only 2.55% of mortality
after lockdown phase-1.
JETIR2102257 Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (JETIR) www.jetir.org 2114© 2021 JETIR February 2021, Volume 8, Issue 2 www.jetir.org (ISSN-2349-5162)
Table-3
Corona deaths in Andhra Pradesh during Lockdown phase-1
S.No District Gender Age Date of death
1 Krishna Male 70 2/4/2020
2 Anantapur Male 64 4/4/2020
3 Krishna Male 55 4/4/2020
4 Anantapur Male 70 7/4/2020
5 Guntur Male 45 7/4/2020
6 Guntur Male NA 10/4/2020
7 Krishna Male 55 12/4/2020
8 Nellore Male 50 13/4/2020
9 Kurnool Male 45 13/4/2020
Source: Eenadu Telugu Daily.
Conclusions:
Before and during the first lockdown period, the cases of COVID-19 are hardly reported in Andhra Pradesh state.
Among the initial ten cases reported in the state, except one, all the other 9 cases have the travel history of foreign countries or to
other states of India. The other case has been contaminated through their family member who again has the history of foreign
visit to Mecca. About 70% of the initial ten cases are the students who are pursuing their higher education in Europe and USA
and 20% of them have the religious trips to Mecca and Markaz Mosque, Delhi. The total corona cases noticed in the state during
the lockdown phase-1 are 478, of which more number of cases have been found in Guntur district followed by Kurnool district.
Srikakulam and Vijayanagaram districts have been remained as COVID free zones till the end of the lockdown phase-1. The
average number of COVID-19 cases in Andhra Pradesh during the lockdown phase-1 are estimated as 23 per day. The total
deaths occurred due to COVID-19 in the state have been registered as Nine during the study period.
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